First line of ‘The Beano’ pet toys launch at UK retail

DC Thomson Consumer Products have joined with pet accessories specialists Rupert’s Pet Shop for the launch of the first range of Dennis the Menace and Gnasher dog toys.

Marking the brand’s entrance into the pet sector, the partnership will see the new Dennis the Menace and Gnasher dog toys launch at all 405 Poundstretcher and 55 Pet Hut stores across the UK this summer.

Chairman of Rupert’s Pet Shop Ian Madeley commented: “We’ve been talking to Poundstretcher for a while now as we know that they are becoming a major destination for pet toys. Their new Pet Hut stores are especially impressive and we want to be part of their growth. The Beano, Dennis and Gnasher in particular, are a really good “fit” to their shopper profile with a high percentage of families with children.We already know that families are key pet toy consumers and Poundstretcher are really getting behind the range.”

Designed and developed by Rupert’s Pet Shop, the range will consist of five different dog toys covering all play patterns which encapsulate the fun and iconic appeal of The Beano characters. The line is also ideal for gift purchasers and pet owners and featuresa Comic Fetch squeaky fabric toy, the Gnarly Gnasherhairy soft toy, a Whoopee Whiff cushion, a Rough and Tough Menacerfetch toy and Sock Slinger.

DC Thomson head of brands Tim Collins added: “Rupert’s Pet Toys are an exciting addition to The Beano licensing programme and one that will allow us to expand our retail footprint in the UK pet market. This new partnership will not only open further commercial opportunitiesfor Dennis the Menace and Gnasher but alsohighlights our ongoing commitmentto developing innovative and relevant productsthat appeal to The Beano fans of all ages.”

Ubisoft unveils ‘Valiant Hearts: the Great War’ worldwide

The game developing giant – Ubisoft – has unveiled its latest offering, Valiant Hearts: The Great War, globally and now available to download on Xbox LIVE for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One, also on the PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, and PC Digital, at the price of €14.99.

Valiant Hearts: The Great War is the story of crossed destinies and a broken love in a world torn apart. It gives players the chance to live a touching yet comical adventure which focuses on the journey of four people as they brave the battles and difficulties of the Great War following their faithful canine companion. All of the main characters are inextricably drawn together, and friendship, love, sacrifice and tragedy befall each as they help each other to retain their humanity against the horrors of war.

The game is being developed by a small team at Ubisoft Montpellier, known for their work on critically-acclaimed titles like Beyond Good & Evil, Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends. The team is using the UbiArt Framework to easily and efficiently animate the game’s comic-book style, which consists of a wide-ranging colour palette – from the dank trenches to green forests and snowy fields – that provides stunning scenic variety and visual contrast. Ubisoft’s UbiArt Framework is a powerful engine that lets programmers and artists to bring their art to life by allowing original concept art to be inserted unedited into the game world.

Ubisoft and Electronic Sports World Cup reveal the first global ‘Just Dance’ competition

Ubisoft and the Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC) have collaborated to turn ‘Just Dance’ into an official ESWC discipline, making it the first casual video game to enter the ESWC line up.

The ESWC is a worldwide competition that starts locally with national qualifying rounds and culminates in a World Final designed as a live show. Just Dance is the top selling dance game globally and Just Dance 2015, the latest in the franchise, was announced at E3 2014 along with Just Dance Now, the all-new mobile game that allows players to play ‘Just Dance’ tracks with their smartphones and any internet-connected screen.

“For the 11th edition of the ESWC, we are very proud to widen the definition of eSport with Ubisoft. Competitive gaming has to welcome all kind of players, has to be developed in partnership with the games publishers, and has to showcase the most advanced technologies which link the body to the game. Just Dance is for ESWC the perfect medium to reach those goals”, ESWC founder Matthieu Dallon stated in a release.

Qualifiers for the Just Dance World Cup will take place between 24 June and 21 September online and around the world at gaming events. The competition is open to anyone and there are three ways to qualify:

1. On World Dance Floor, the online multiplayer mode in Just Dance 2014 which allows players to compete against each other’s performances. Qualifying sessions are scheduled for July 13th, July 20th, July 27th, August 3rd, August 31st, September 7th, September 14th and September 21st.

2. Through Just Dance TV players can submit their best dance recording through the in-game Autodance feature.

3. In-person at specific ESWC qualifier events and Ubisoft events to be communicated at a later date.

“As soon as you put Just Dance on a stage the crowd starts dancing spontaneously. This is really inspiring to us and reflects the fact that dancing is a show as much as it brings people together. Competitive gaming shares the same goal, so we decided to partner with ESWC and create an official discipline with a very accessible show for everyone to feel the thrill of eSport,” Ubisoft senior eSport manager Jean-Baptiste Pennes added.

The top twenty Just Dance players will be flown to Paris Games Week to compete in the Grand Final of the Just Dance World Cup from 30 October to 1 November, 2014. During the Final, performances will be appraised on score and style of the dance by a jury and submitted to online voting. Details about the jury members and the rewards for the winners will be announced soon.

With 50 million Just Dance games sold since the debut of the franchise in 2009, Just Dance has become a pop-culture phenomenon played by 100 million of fans all over the world. At the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) on 9 June, 2014, Ubisoft revealed the development of Just Dance 2015 and Just Dance Now.

Autodesk looks to expand with the acquisition of Shotgun Software

Autodesk has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Shotgun Software, a developer of scalable, cloud-based production tracking, review, and asset management software for the film, television and games industries. Shotgun’s tools for production management are used by some of the world’s leading production studios, and are tightly integrated with many of the most widely used tools in the industry including Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Maya software.  Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

“Shotgun and Autodesk share a vision of an industry-wide, cloud-based production management system,” said Shotgun co-founder and chief executive officer Don Parker. “Autodesk’s broad global network and development resources will speed up the pace of innovation and development of our global platform. Together, we will extend our tools deeper into the production process, and develop new solutions that best support the studios of the future.”

Since the launch of the Shotgun solution in 2006, it has become widely-adopted across the industry, providing business tools for managers and visual collaboration tools for artists and supervisors, who are often working globally with distributed teams. More than 500 customers including a number of leading studios are using Shotgun’s customizable system and contribute to the ongoing development of its growing ecosystem of applications. The existing Shotgun team will continue to support current and new customers, and lead future product development.

“The acquisition of Shotgun will accelerate Autodesk’s efforts to deliver solutions that help our creative customers solve the critical problem of operating more efficiently by collaborating globally to deliver increasingly complex productions on time and budget,” said Autodesk Media & Entertainment senior VP Chris Bradshaw. “Shotgun brings deep expertise and industry-leading technology in cloud products and production management, so we welcome the team, customers and community to Autodesk.”

Asian game developers to tango with Reliance Games

Reliance Games, the mobile gaming division of Reliance Entertainment Digital announced the unveiling of its global publishing division in Korea, enabling Asian game developers to tap the global market pegged at $6 billion. The strategic move will combine the talent of development studios such as LoadComplete and MobiWorks, with the extensive expertise of Reliance Games in publishing hit titles in global markets.

“Our decision to launch publishing services in Korea is fuelled by the immense talent in the Asian market. We will use our in-depth insight in the mobile gaming space to take the Asian gaming industry to a global level. With mobile gaming accounting for a sizeable share of app downloads and usage, the growth opportunities for our partners is immense”, said Reliance Games CEO Manish Agarwal in a press statement.

Reliance Games has identified several IPs that have the potential to become successful globally and aims to publish 10 games over the next one year. The company is currently exploring opportunities to work with proven development studious in Asia on various titles and will provide them with Go-to Market strategies, Analytical tools, Multiplatform knowhow, Quality Assurance and Production support.

LoadComplete CEO Jeonghyun Junction Bae added: “Reliance Games was our preferred choice as the publishing partner because of the experience, the tools, global knowledge and distribution channel that they employ, which perfectly fit for launching our games and expanding our presence worldwide.”

The rapid growth in the Asian gaming industry is drawing developers like MobiWorks who are looking to scale to wider audiences. Mobi Works CEO Jin-Seok Lee revealed: “It gives us immense pleasure to collaborate with Reliance Games, the pioneers in the Indian mobile gaming industry. With their expertise and global outreach, we are certain that together we will create IPs that will be successful globally.”

Reliance Games estimates that over the next couple of years, the company will be able to launch IP’s in key global markets in collaboration with over 100 Asian mobile game developers. As a part of its continued expansion, the company is planning to open its second office in Singapore later this year.

Transformers 4: Unadulterated Metallic Mayhem

The fourth installment to the ‘Transformers’ franchise delivers essentially everything one would expect from a ‘Transformers’ movie. Michael Bay showcases his “refreshed” take on the morphing robots in this outing that looks at overshadowing its predecessors not only in scale and global scope, but also in runtime (seriously).

So the basic setting takes us into the life of a failed robotics engineer Cade Yeager and how he buys a broken-down truck for $150 and, well, anyone who’s seen any of the previous three movies or watched the TV show as a kid will know where this is heading. The truck is none other than the leader of the Autobots – Optimus Prime himself. Alas, the government, via Kelsey Grammer’s infamous Harold Attinger, has declared an unofficial war on the alien species; and even the Earth-saving Autobots are being searched and executed.

Meanwhile, tech genius Joshua Joyce (a Steve Jobs inspired character) is responsible for creating man-made and controlled Transformers via his company KSI using the precious stone aptly named ‘Transformium’. The aim is to use the manufactured robots as military weapons in all future wars. Joyce utilises the ‘fallen Decepticons’, including ‘Megatron’, and several captured Autobots to reverse engineer his new-world-order machines, in a bid to end “the age of the Transformers”, and in keeping with the notion that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”, Attinger agrees to an uneasy alliance with ‘Lockdown’, a Transformer who swears adherence to neither the Autobots nor the Decepticons.

The introduction of ‘Lockdown’ (arguably the best bad-ass Transformer yet) in the fight between the Autobots and the Decepticons is – simply put – poetic justice for both clans. To combat this new threat and protect his endangered brethren, Prime calls upon his own personal band of brothers: Bumblebee, Hound, Drift, Crosshairs and Brains. What follows is synchronized pandemonium, if such a thing exists.

The 165 minute feature is a visual treat and best enjoyed in 3D along with Dolby Atmos sound, to really get sucked into Bay’s world of metamorphosing swanky cars. The sheer magnificence of Bay’s ability to tell and re-tell the same story of the interlocking lives of humans and bots is truly commendable.

Speaking of visual spectacle, the interior of Lockdown’s ship is an awesomely strange and utterly fascinating house of alien horrors. The gravity generators create some of the most attention-grabbing spectacle as planes, trains, and oil tankers are sucked into the atmosphere only to come crashing back down to Earth. His first appearance is marked by a ruthlessly brutal encounter with an Autobot on the run and marks the film’s only genuinely emotion-provoking moment.

The VFX supervisor Scott Ferrar deserves a special mention, for executing the sequences as thought out by Bay and doing justice to Ehren Kruger’s writing. Some of the sequences are truly outlandish, be it the introduction on Dinobots in the very end – where instead of characters that turn into Humanoid Robots or Cars, these characters are Humanoids that turn into Dinosaurs – or the very first encounter between the ‘New Age’ Transformer Decepticons and the Autobots; or even the smaller less extravagant sequences of the explanation of the use of ‘Transformium’.

In terms of performances, Wahlberg brings every ounce of his often endearingly goofy charm, as well as a relatable action appeal. He puts action in action with some of the stunts he’s attempted in the film, including trying his hand at the art of ‘Parkour’ in one of the few human vs human sequences in a bot driven film. But, the true stand-out performer for me is none other than Stanley Tucci, who plays a Steve Jobs inspired tech guru. His mere presence on the screen is poetry in motion, and some of his dialogues will leave you spellbound. Tucci outshines his fellow actors and even gives the bots a run for their money in the film.

Unfortunately, even after being a die-hard Transformers fan, I have to say that the runtime of this installment is by far the weakest link of the film and potentially fatal to its outcome. The repetitive occurrences of the combat sequences ultimately dilute its significance, and eventually, the viewer will be left craving to an end to the chaos.

To end, Transformers: Age of Extinction is for the fans of the franchise. Those who don’t enjoy Michael Bay’s brand of mind numbing action will be best served to remain at home. Lovers of all things explosions, visual effects marvels, and Autobots will be granted a wealth of all of the above, plus a few intriguing and unexpected twists.

Autobots roll out!

Director: Michael Bay

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Nicola Peltz, Jack Reynor, Kelsey Grammer, Li Bingbing, Sophia Myles, Titus Welliver, T. J. Miller.

G-Star Raw for the Oceans

G-Star Raw Amsterdam, an innovative denim brand based in The Netherlands, won the Product Design Grand Prix at Cannes International Festival of Creativity for “Raw for the Oceans“, a product line using ocean plastic. The denim brand, marking 25 years this year, is known for innovation in fabrics, cuts, 3D constructions and sustainable innovations such as denim made from nettle. This year G-Star partnered with Bionic Yarn to create a high quality collection, co-designed and promoted by Pharrell Williams. This first collection, due for release in August 2014, contains 33% per cent reclaimed plastic. The percentage of plastic reclaimed from the sea in Bionic yarn will increase with each collection.

G-Star Raw For The Oceans

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2ziBgSNxLI

The Raw for the Oceans collection is designed to raise awareness of the 100 million tons of plastic being produced each year, of which 10% ends up in the oceans. This plastic pollution affects the environment in several ways. Birds, marine mammals and fish are killed by ingestion of plastics or entanglement.

Pharrell Williams G-Star Raw For The Oceans

Pharrell Williams G-Star Raw For The Oceans

Pharrell Williams G-Star Raw For The Oceans

Credits

The Raw for the Oceans campaign was developed by FHV BBDO creative director Mark Muller, Part of a Bigger Plan cofounder Christian Borstlap, Bionic Yarn cofounders Tim Coombs and Tyson Toussant, and creative director Pharrell Williams, along with Parley for the Oceans founder Cyrill Gutsch.

Post production was by Glassworks and Animade, with music by Pharrell Williams and sound by Kaiser Sound Studios.

Steve Scott: Time’s the Charm

The talented Steve Scott returns with this elegantly crafted film for John Lobb via Not To ScaleSteve’s charming illustrations capture the subtle tones of London, brought to life with a graceful balance of 2D and 3D animation, touches of lighting and texture. I love the detail in the film, make sure you watch it over and have a look at some of the clever puns that are sprinkled throughout.

Client: John Lobb
Director of Communications: Benjamin Chatfield
Marketing & Communication Co-ordinator: Marion Courtois
Production Company: Not To Scale
Executive Producer: Dan O’ Rourke
Producer: Denise Flavell
Director: Steve Scott
Script Development: Steve Scott, Dan O’ Rourke, Benjamin Chatfield.
Technical Director: James Littlemore
Animator: Nick Brooks, Geoff McDowell
Animation Assistant: Kehinde Omishore
Production Manager: Kelly Ford
Music:
Record Label: Heavenly Recordings
Band: The Temples – “Keep in the Dark”
Mix: Brains and Hunch

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